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Even as time is running out on Taj Mansingh's lease, New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) did not discuss the matter in its council meeting today.
NDMC chairman Jalaj Srivastav said that only routine issues were discussed and all policy matters were deferred till the next council meeting on January 29.
NDMC is expecting a formal notification for swearing in chief minister Arvind Kejriwal in the council on January 16, post which it would take up its “regular agenda.” Srivastav said.
The council cannot take any decision on Taj hotel till it receives home ministry’s instructions on selecting the auction process. With matters not moving, further lease extension for the property seems inevitable.
The injunction suit filed by the Indian Hotels Company, which owns and operates the Taj properties, to get a stay on the auction is up for hearing in the Delhi High Court on January 21.
NDMC is awaiting the solicitor general’s opinion on whether or not to give the first right of refusal to Taj Hotel for the auction. The civic body could not hold an auction earlier during the Delhi Assembly elections due to certain clauses in the Election Commission’s code of conduct.
With general elections likely to be advanced to April this year, NDMC has time only till February to go into the auction.
The company had signed a 33-year lease agreement for the property, which expired in October 2011.
Subsequently, NDMC extended its lease thrice, and will now expire on March 31, 2014 . NDMC had earlier decided to hold an auction by March 2014.
